Jacob Morgan, futurist, author, and keynote speaker,  recently posted a somewhat controversial post on LinkedIn.

His opening statement was:

“A 4-day workweek isn't going to happen, let alone a 3.5 day workweek.

I don't know a single successful person who works 32 hours a week or even 40 hours a week for that matter.”

His argument is that while you are working 4 days a week, your competitors will be working 5 days a week and will overtake you.

Declaration

Before I add my 2 cents to this debate, I will openly declare that whilst I have read the LinkedIn article and all of the commentary, I have not read Jacob’s “more thorough in-depth perspective.”

Why?

Because it is behind a paywall.

Whilst Jacob is permitted to gate his content, I operate under the principle of giving away my content, free of charge, in the form of blog posts on my website, LinkedIn posts and newsletters, podcasts, videos, and more. You will generally pay for my books and speaking engagements, but other than that I want my potential customers and clients to receive a valuable funnel of free information.

Therefore, this newsletter is only based on what I have had freely available to me.

Clarity

It is important that we are clear about what Jacob’s perspective is.

This is an extract from the introduction to his subscriber-only edition of Great Leadership.

“First, it’s important to break down what exactly I’m talking about here because there are lots of variations of a four-day work week. I don’t mean working your full number of hours in a condensed time period, for example doing 40 hours in 4 days instead of 40 hours in 5. I’m specifically referring to a required reduction in the time you work, so in this case, 4 days where you work 32 hours instead of 5 days where you work 40 hours.

I’m also not talking about companies that offer this to a few employees. I know there are plenty of companies around the world who offer a 4-day work week to their employees in a variety of capacities. It’s an opt-in program for the people who want to take advantage of it.

When I’m specifically referring to here is a company telling their employees…

Our new measure of a full-time work week is now going to be working 4 days at 32 hours a week instead of 5 days at 40 hours a week. There will be no change in pay or benefits, the only difference is that now you get three days off each week instead of two.”

 So, Jacob’s objection is to companies mandating a 4-day week of 32 hours whilst competitors continue to work a 5-day week of 40 hours or more and overtake the rest.

Blind mandate?

My problem with Jacob’s position is that I cannot imagine any company mandating a 4-day week at the risk of being overtaken by their competitors. Surely, companies considering reducing the days and hours their employees work will have undertaken a risk assessment. If they have not, then they should not be in business in the first place!

Work smarter, not harder

Organisations investing in technology like artificial intelligence (AI) will remain ahead of the competition despite reducing employee work hours.

Research by Accenture estimates that as much as 40% of all working hours will be supported or augmented by language-based AI.

Deloitte believes that with adequate investment and support, AI could free up 30% of the government's workforce’s time within 5 to 7 years.

McKinsey's analysis of more than 2000 work activities across more than 800 occupations showed that about 30% of the activities in 60% of all occupations could be automated.

Successful organisations are not just talking about AI but enabling AI to reach its full potential within the organisation by breaking down data silos, modernising data foundations, and upskilling the workforce.

Automating repetitive tasks can free employees up to do other work. Non-technical solutions can also increase productivity, such as effective delegation through empowerment and trust, prioritisation of tasks, facilitating productive meetings, and improving communication and listening skills.

Outcomes not hours

Moreover, we must move away from measuring the inputs rather than the outcomes. Bosses are obsessed with the hours employees work because they see it as a measure of productivity. Performance must be measured on the outcomes and value that employees deliver. Last week’s newsletter was all about this.

Whether you work 40 hours or 32 hours is irrelevant if you deliver the outcomes that the business requires.

Parkinson’s law

Parkinson’s law is a real thing. If you have a week to do something, it will take you a week. Parkinson’s law is the old adage that work expands to fill the time allotted for it completion. Cyril Northcote Parkinson first coined the term in a humorous essay he wrote for the Economist in 1955. He tells the story of an elderly lady of leisure who spent a whole day in writing and despatching a postcard - a task that would have taken a busy man 3 minutes.

A team at Atlassian proved the law true when they adopted a 4-day workweek for 9 weeks. They found you can deliver just as much value in less time if you’re disciplined about it.

Evidence

Plenty of evidence indicates that a reduction in working hours does not impact productivity. But this must be accompanied by new ways of working. You cannot just reduce the working hours by 20% and expect the same outcomes.

Employees who use the additional time, such as the 3-day weekend, to rest, relax, and recharge will be just as productive across the 4 days they work as they were across 5.

Many commentators on Jacob’s LinkedIn post quoted studies such as that done by Microsoft Japan in 2019. The experiment that revealed productivity jumped by 40% was conducted in one month – August 2019. Despite the apparent success, the model has not been deployed. The reason is unknown.

There are a number of organisations doing research regarding a 4-day working week.

4 Day Week Global (4DWG) is a non-for-profit organisation which runs 4-day week pilot programs and undertakes research in conjunction with Boston College. 

4 Day Week Campaign Ltd. is a UK based non-for-profit campaigning for a 4-day working week.

4 Day Week undertakes research and provides case studies of companies undertaking the journey.

US and Canada

4DWG recently released its fourth instalment in a series of research reports examining the feasibility and benefits of reduced work time.

The report includes the consolidated findings from 41 companies across the US and Canada who participated in a six-month pilot. 

The limitation to the research is that 20 of the 41 companies of had 11-25 employees and 11 had 1-10 employees. Only 3 had more than 101 employees. Therefore, the results are from small size organisations.

UK

More than 3,300 workers at 70 UK companies, ranging from small businesses to large financial firms, undertook a 4-day week 6-month trial in 2022

The pilot was run by academics at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as Boston College in the US, in partnership 4DWG, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and the Autonomy think-tank. It was the world’s biggest trial of the new working pattern.

The results were published in February 2023.

·       Almost every company (92%) that took part has decided to continue with the four-day week after the pilot. Of the 61 companies that participated, at least 56 are continuing with the four-day week, with 18 saying the policy is a permanent change 

·       The vast majority of companies were satisfied that business performance and productivity was maintained

·       Over the six-month trial period, stress and burnout for employees both significantly declined with 71% of employees reporting lower levels of burnout

·       Reported levels of anxiety, fatigue and sleep issues decreased, while mental and physical health both experienced improvements.

·       Measures of work-life balance improved. Respondents found it easier to balance their work with both family and social commitments, and were more satisfied with their household finances, relationships and how their time was being managed.

·       Other key business metrics showed signs of positive effects. Companies’ revenue stayed broadly the same, rising by 1.4% on average.

·       There was a substantial decline (57%) in the likelihood that an employee would quit, dramatically improving job retention.

·       There was a 65% reduction in the number of sick days.

Again, the limitation is the large number of small companies. While the size distribution was wide – with one company of around 1,000 staff – 66% had 25 or fewer employees. 22% had 50 or more staff.

Unilever

Despite the research mentioned earlier fuelling the fire for the cynics to say it is ok for small companies to try it but not for the large ones, Unilever have proved otherwise. The consumer goods giant has conducted an 18-month trial in New Zealand and a 12-month trial is now underway in Australia. The results will inform Unilever’s Future of Work plans.

How far Unilever will deploy the 4-day work week across its global markets is unknown.

Placid Jover, Expertise, Innovation and Finance Chief HR Officer, acknowledges that there may be different models in different markets.

“It’s important to recognise that for a global company like Unilever, with brands in 190 countries and 148,000 employees working in a mix of office-based, lab-based, production and field-based roles, we won’t necessarily arrive at a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Our aim is to be responsive to the changing needs of our current and future workforce – who we know want to work differently – to test and trial solutions and create new ways of working that enable our people and our business to thrive.”

The New Zealand trial results were positive. Over two-thirds (67%) of employees reported a better work–life balance. Individual wellbeing also improved, with stress dropping 33%. Meanwhile, feelings of strength and vigour at work increased by 15%.

Medibank

The health insurer has just announced that at the end of October 2023, 250 employees will move to a 100:80:100 model, or 100 per cent of pay in 80 per cent of the time at 100 per cent productivity, in a six-month trial that will be re-evaluated and scaled to the wider organisation of nearly 4000 staff.

Conclusion

If your employees can work a 4-day, 32-hour week and you can still outsmart your competitors, then go for it. If you can do the same with a 3-day week, knock yourself out. Enable it with investment in automation, artificial intelligence, and productivity skills.

Winning organisations will be those who recognise the skills that will be needed to augment automation and artificial intelligence. These include advanced technological skills such as programming. They will also include social, emotional, and higher cognitive skills, such as creative thinking, critical thinking, and complex information processing.

While your competitors continue to work a 5-day week, your shorter week, supplemented with the right technology and skills, will triumph.